Harrah's Cherokee's Main Championship Down to Final 11
Monday re-start begins at noon – final table set for live-stream broadcast
The first WSOP Circuit Main Event Championship ever held here at Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina is down to just 11 players.
Sunday's playing session encompassed Day Two of the $1,675 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament. The initial field of 856 players had been whittled down to 211, which made for a long playing session on Sunday. Those 211 survivors hit the money about midway through the day and night, which came at the 90-player mark. Thereafter, the remaining players fell gradually to the point where we are now down the final 11. This also means we're but two players away from the official final table.
Rufus Hensley, from Morganton, NC had begun the day as chip leader. He enjoyed a monster run the previous day, ending up with a nearly 100,000-chip lead over his closest rival. However, Hensley endured a horrible opening hour and went out short of finishing in the money.
Other well-known names bit the dust as the afternoon wore on and day turned to night. The most notable players who cashed, but fell short of making it to a third day included Carter Myers (18th), Cary Marshall (26th), Greg Raymer (29th), David Nicholson (43rd), and Kyle Cartwright (54th).
The current leaderboard includes a few familiar names and faces. But this field was largely comprised of first-time visitors to the WSOP Circuit. Here's a look at the final 11 players ranked by chip count:
1 Hugh Henderson BELTON, SC 4,235,000
2 Jonathan Moseley WOODSTOCK, GA 2,395,000
3 George Zinaty CHARLOTTE, NC 2,210,000
4 John Bowman HICKORY, NC 1,815,000
5 Daniel Weinman ATLANTA, GA 1,580,000
6 Raymond Weaver MCDONOUGH, GA 1,400,000
7 James Kinney MATTHEWS, NC 1,285,000
8 Kory Kilpatrick ATHENS, GA 675,000
9 Jerry Monroe COLUMBUS, GA 665,000
10 James Osborne OOTLEWAH, TN 565,000
11 Mark Handy CHARLOTTE, NC 295,000
At stake is more than a quarter-million dollars for first place. The new champion also receives the coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring.
Moreover, Harrah's Cherokee has added a special bonus to this tournament. Not only does the winner receive a seat into the WSOP National Championship, to be played in New Orleans next month. The champ also wins a seat into the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, coming up in July. This special gift was donated by the casino as a way of thanking players for so much support for this memorable debut.
A reminder that the final table will be played and shown on Monday afternoon, both here at WSOP.com and on ESPN3 as part of a live simulcast.
Check back here at WSOP.com for more announcements and updates about the Main Event and upcoming final table broadcast.